The Secret Life of Bees L

Social/Political The period in which the book takes place is a time of racism and African Americans beginning to have political rights There is conflict between blacks and whites and sometimes ends in death African Americans had just earned the right to vote http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0CSkSQ5Aa8&safe=active

Family Lily’s family is broken with no mother and an abusive father Her only mother figure is Rosaleen a slave turned Into a nanny for Lily Lily does not know much about her mother or how she felt for her but tries to find out about her in the book

Identity Through the book Lily tries to find out who her mother is and how she felt about Lily, if she really abandoned her or not While looking around her house one day she finds some of her mother things including a picture a Mary with Tiburon, Carolina written on the back of it and leaves with Rosaleen in search of a clue as to where her mother has been Along the way she finds out more about her mother after the clue leads her to a house where the occupants are three African women and finds some happiness while staying with them

Belief August, June, and May believe in a mix of Catholic religion mixed with others to make a new belief in which they worship Mary and pray to her to give them strength in there time of need

Mental Health Many characters in this story deal with some type of mental issue or some type of emotional distress Lily can not seem to stop lying and continues to think about her mother and wonders if she ever loved her or not Her Father, T-ray, suffers from Lily’s mother leaving him and cannot accept that she left him Deborah, Lily’s mother began to go through depression after spending time out in the country and leaving the city and could not handle living on a farm May one of the three sisters that Lily encounters suffers with an emotional problem that has significantly left a series of emotional attacks when she sees or hears of anything bad that goes on in the world, caused when her twin sister died at the age of fourteen June, another one of the three sisters, wont accept Niel’s marriage proposals after her first fiancé left her at the alter In real life mental health is really just seen as a minor problem that can be fixed with medicine, in truth this technique barley works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3MJGjXoH4&safe=active

Death/Grief Ever since Lily could remember Lily has felt guilt and grief after accidently shooting her mother and tries to find ways of coping with it by keeping some of her mothers things After loosing May, June and August Lily copes with the death of May by remembering her

Bees The bees live in a society where they follow the orders of the queen There are not many males in the hive Bees are a sign of rebirth in Chinese lore Honey produced by bees can be used in a variety of ways including preservation, an antiseptic, and emollient http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR6xKEt8RT8&safe=active

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